Mac
Good riddance, IE, part III
Speaking of the dress-code-aware genius that is Dan Benjamin (is that enough, Dan?), he offers up some delectable food for thought on the discontinuation of standalone IE development for the Mac. I say standalone, because it seems that IE will continue on in MSN for Mac OS X. Zeldman sums it all up rather well.
From here, as it has for several weeks now, it looks like a period of technological stasis and dormancy yawns ahead. Undoubtedly the less popular browsers will continue to improve. They may even gain in market share. But few of us will be able to take advantage of their sophisticated standards support if most of the market continues to use an unchanged year 2000 browser.
But enough, and enough, and enough. We are glad of the latest versions of Opera, Mozilla, Konqueror, Safari, and Omniweb. But on this grey and rainy day, this news of a kind of death brings no warmth. To Tantek and Jimmy and their colleagues on the IE/Mac team: for what you achieved on behalf of web standards and usability, much respect. When it arrived, IE5/Mac was the standard for web browsers. It shamed Netscape. Complacency and stagnant development, however, have left it behind technologically. Zeldman mentions reasons people switched from IE to Camino or Safari; I switched for all the reasons he discusses, including that it's one less Microsoft application on my system. There are choices people, and they're better than the "standard."
DNS Primer
If you've ever been interested in how your email gets from your computer to someone else's, or how your browser knows how to load up a web site, you need to read Dan Benjamin's excellent DNS primer at MacDevCenter. It's geared toward Mac OS X users, but anyone can learn the basics of DNS, IP addresses, routing, and all that other techie stuff that makes the Internet work, boiled down in to simply terms by Mr. Benjamin (of Hivelogic/Hiveware fame). Oh, and hire this dress-code-aware guy, if you have the need. Too much talent to not be getting paid well by someone, somewhere.
Good riddance, IE, part deux
This morning, Microsoft released a slightly-updated version of IE for Mac OS X, version 5.2.3. While no future development is planned, Microsoft will update this last version of IE as needed. I hope Ric doesn't mind my copying this from today's Macintouch, but he doesn't provide a permanent link to this story:
Clint McIntosh summarized the issues of Microsoft dropping Internet Explorer development for the Mac (something the company also has done on the Windows platform):
Microsoft is saying that they can't do as good of a job as Apple of integrating the browser with the MacOS as a a reason they are halting development of Internet Explorer and that Safari is an excellent browser even in this public beta stage. BUT there is a serious problem ahead of us Mac users that deals with browser detection at many sites.
Many sites that rely on security or on compatibility do a browser check when you first try to view their pages. They usually make sure you are running MSIE 5.x or higher or even Netscape 4.x and higher. I've found that a lot of site developers don't even realize that there are many more browsers other than IE and Netscape--either that or they just don't care.
I've already found quite a few sites that don't work at all with Safari such as my online banking through SouthTrust bank. I've written to the webmasters of those sites that aren't Safari friendly but the standard answer I get back is "Our site only works with Internet explorer and netscape."
Using iCab's ability to identify itself as another browser, I've found that there is no technical reason for the limitation to IE and Netscape. They just do browser checks and see that you are using something other than IE and Netscape they deny you access. I'm not a fan of Microsoft but I do use IE on those occasions when I just can't get a page to work with any other browser. Netscape 7 is just too slow and bloated for my liking and it still doesn't work on a lot of sites where Netscape 4.x works flawlessly.
I've tried and compared the features of iCab, Opera, OmniWeb and others. They all have their good points, but Safari wins out overall. If Safari is going to be a suitable replacement for MSIE, Apple is going to have to either change the identifier to pretend it is IE or they are going to have to market the hell out of Safari to get the name known out there as a major player AND they are going to have to beef up a lot of the compatibility issues before they finalize it as a 1.0 release. There's also the issue of browser plugins, but that's another story.
Good riddance, IE
No more Internet Explorer for Macintosh. No more standalone Internet Explorer on Windows. I cannot tell you how heart-broken I am to hear this.
7135 first impression
As I stated previously, I went on my lunch break to the nearby Verizon Wireless store to check out the Kyocera 7135 SmartPhone. I was suitably impressed. Yes, it's a little thicker and bulkier than most phones out there, weighing in at 6.6 ounces. But playing around with it, I didn't find its size to be a deal-breaker. We are, after all, talking about a phone with a Palm PDA jammed in to it. Personally, I didn't feel that it was too much bulkier than my current Motorola StarTac, once it's folded over and in its belt clip/holster. Decided to do a little checking on the web. Walt Mossberg likes it, but doesn't like it. Walt's gripes do not overly concern me, especially the email issue. Call me old-fashioned, but I just haven't quite grasped the concept yet of checking my email on my phone. I like to stay connected and in touch via email as much as the next guy, but I honestly don't have the type of professional or personal life that would warrant such immediate need. Mike Wendland loves his 7135, and has had little problems with it under OS X. Since I'm no longer using iSync, I doubt I would encounter the same issues as Mike. (Said issues may have been fixed with iSync 1.1, but I haven't come across the post yet on Mike's site that may say so.) Reading through one forum on Palm Boulevard sounds like there was a lot of pent-up demand for the 7135 from November of last year to just this April. There's even an entire site devoted to Kyocera SmartPhones. I'm waiting to hear back from our VZW corporate rep, but I think I've found my new phone...
De-iApping
So today I de-iApped a bit. Viz: I had moved all of my contact and calendar info out of Palm Desktop, into OS X's Address Book and iCal. Then I set up iSync to sync my Palm m505 with my TiBook. The thought was that I could then sync this info with my iPod--which I've done once in about six months--and whatever new mobile phone I get when my current contract expires (end of this month). Seeing as how I've never used iSync to sync to my iPod (did it all manually the one time), and now I've got my eye on the Kyocera 7135 as my mobile phone replacement, I've ditched Address Book and iCal and moved everything back over to Palm Desktop. Syncing is way faster now. I think Apple is doing some really cool stuff, but the iSync Palm conduit just plain sucks. Address Book and iCal are now gone from the Dock. Yeah, I may opt for another phone, and that might mean that I'm doing all of this again. The m505 actually is provided by my employer, so if I went with the 7135, I'd have my own Palm, with a phone wrapped around it. I'm going to look one over during my lunch break.
iMac no more
So, yeah, maybe I'm just way behind in picking this up, but the CRT iMac, the box that helped bring Apple back, is no more. The only CRT Macintosh still being sold in the Apple Store is the 17" G4-driven eMac. So the flat-panel iMac is now the only iMac. Thanks to Robert for pointing this out.
PowerBook prices lowered
Apple has lowered the prices on the 12" and 15" PowerBooks, in some cases by as much as $300. Does this portend an update for the 15" model and speed bump for the 12"? WWDC is just around the corner...
Oh, stuff it, StuffIt
Erik brings up a good point on using disk images, .dmg, for archival purposes, rather than Aladdin's DropStuff or StuffIt Deluxe. I haven't used StuffIt Deluxe in over two years, since I migrated to OS X. I have the latest version of DropStuff, courtesy of my .Mac account (which will not be renewed later this year), but I've only used it once in the past three weeks (and that was to send screenshots to Lee). I cannot recall when I used it beyond that. I could have just as easily used DropDMG for that purpose, and likely will in the future. As far as archiving goes, just make sure you're not creating Internet-enabled images, i.e., the .dmg file expands in to a folder, and you should be good to go.
Gruber on Waferbaby
The Waferbaby Corner monkey interviews John Gruber, of Daring Fireball fame. John is his usual, subtle self when refuting the "Cult of Macintosh," discussing the direction of Apple and the web, and sharing where he spends his time online. Gruber gives Michael (and his software) a nice plug, as well as one for About This Particular Macintosh, though Waferbaby doesn't provide a link to the 'zine. Good interview, though. John gives some good examples I will have to remember.
Master the Services Menu
My favorite n3rdling has a great primer on MacMerc about getting the most out of OS X's Services menu. I've recently begun relying on the Services menu more myself, and Jon's article showed me a couple of items I hadn't thought about using yet. Check it out.
NetNewsWire Feature Ideas
One of the cool things about being an independent Macintosh software developer is that you can have more open and direct communication with your customers. Ranchero's Brent Simmons is a great believer in this concept, and he has posted a list of possible future features for Ranchero's flagship application, NetNewsWire.
New Cube?
I'm not one to spread Mac rumors; heck, I wrote an entire column about the dangers of rumor-mongering and how it affects Apple's bottom line. I'll make an exception in this case, however, because should this rumor prove to be true, it will not affect the majority of the Mac population, and thus, will not greatly affect Apple's bottom line in the here and now. MacWhispers is reporting the possibility of a revised Mac Cube as the system that commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh at the end of this year, beginning of 2004. (Not to be confused with the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh released during the tenure of Gil Amelio, which celebrated Apple's 20th anniversary.) I'm sure that like the original TAM, this will be a premium product out of the range of a majority of Mac users, yours truly included. I adore my G4 Cube, and I'm slowly extending its life a bit at a time. It is maxed out with 1.5 GB of RAM; it enjoys a 100 GB hard drive and a GeForce3 MX vid card. The next upgrade will likely be a new processor card, bumping it to 1 GHz or higher. A SuperDrive is currently available from MCE, but I consider it to be at too high a price point right now, especially when I have access to SuperDrive-equipped Macs at work. I know someone out there may rightly point out how in the long term, I may spend as much on upgrading my Cube as I would on a new Mac, but I don't believe that to be the case. (Unless I ran out right now and bought the PowerLogix dual-1.2 GHz proc upgrade and aforementioned MCE SuperDrive; but I'm on a budget.) RAM continues to be relatively cheap, as it was when I maxed out the Cube. The hard drive was purchased on sale, and with a mail-in rebate. The video card was the most expensive upgrade of the three, and it was picked up on sale as well. All told, I would hazard a guess that I've spent around $400 on upgrading a system I got a great deal on when Circuit City was blowing out Cube floor models. It takes up very little space, makes very little noise, and if you weren't paying attention, you might miss it on my desk, sandwiched between my 15" Apple LCD and the shelf stereo's right speaker (stereo and left speaker sit to the left of the display). Though it suffered from a bit of an identity crisis and pricing issues early on, the Cube is one of my favorite all-time Macs, and I'd love to see Apple make an updated version, even as a limited-run, 20th-anniversary special edition. I just hope I can afford one.
Displaying Apache logs in NNW
Brent links to a novel proof-of-concept usage of his flagship application, showing how versatile NetNewsWire can be.
Open in new tab in Safari
Some times, the solution is so simple, we overlook it. Brent Simmons has a quick and dirty tutorial on how to get Safari to open an external links (like from your mail client or NetNewsWire) in a new tab, rather than a new window.
Gigabit Cube!
It appears that Jeff has the only Gigabit Cube in the world. Now if we could just get someone to make the rest of us an upgrade. Too bad Apple won't sell the leftover Gigabit Ethernet parts from before they EOL'ed the Cube; Gigabit Ethernet was going to be a build-to-order option. What a killer little server this box would be, especially after you popped in a processor upgrade.
iTunes music sharing
So I wanted to borrow my buddy Jim's CD of Seussical the Musical, in light that it's coming to town this month, and my wife and I want to take in one of the shows. Jim says it's loaded in iTunes, just connect to his shared music. Once we figured out that iTunes wants our IP addresses (different subnets here at work), I'm listening to John Williams - Greatest Hits 1969 - 1999 (greatest composer of the latter 20th century?), and Jim's reconnecting with his teenage years by jamming to Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet on my TiBook. It's wicked fast, with no lag. This despite the heavy traffic on our corporate network and the fact that our Macs are both streaming and receiving at the same time. Apple rocks.
One million in one week
Yeah, I know everyone has read how the Apple Music Store has sold more than a million songs in its first week. But Lee has broken down what that means, and the results are impressive. Better than one-and-a-half songs sold per second. I can't wait to see Apple's financials on this as the year progresses. My stock has already gone up about three bucks a share in the past week.
ATPM 9.05
Crikey! I completely forgot to mention that the May issue of About This Particular Macintosh has been published. Doh! I talked Lee in to interviewing our mutual acquaintance, Jon Gales, a total Mac-head who has an awesome mobile phone site, MobileTracker.net. I've been relying heavily on information Jon posts for our upcoming mobile plan/handy switch when our current contract is up at the end of June. Matthew Coates has a great article on Acrobat, PDFs, and OS X. Lee went to the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Vegas, and offers a Mac-centric perspective. Ellyn offers a fantastic column on the virtues of the Golden Rule and our online lives. The usual assortment of reviews abound.
Synergy vs PTHiTunesNotifier
So Lee asked what made Synergy worth $5 when PTHiTunesNotifier was free and did essentially the same thing. So I decided to run down a quick comparison of the two.
- PTHiTunesNotifier offers more button choices for the button controls in the menu bar (though I prefer Synergy's choices over PTHiTunesNotifier's)
- PTHiTunesNotifier offers more control over the layout of the track display window
- Synergy has a few more hot key options for controlling iTunes
- Synergy offers greater control over the menu bar buttons
- Synergy includes recently played tracks in its drop-down menu; it is able to remember up to the last 50 songs played (set in the number in the prefs)
- Synergy includes the Playlist and iTunes submenus (if you don't want to use hot keys to control iTunes)
- Synergy offers button spacing control (this can be important when you have tons of stuff in your menu bar, like I tend to)